System and method for redeeming and accumulating stock purchase credits in a company by the participating consumers

Abstract

A system and method for acquiring an equity position in a company through the purchase of qualifying products or services offered by the company, by accumulating credits toward the purchase of stock in the company based on the quantity of goods or services purchased. The invention is adapted for implementation, in part, on a digital computer. Consumers who purchase qualifying goods or services redeem UPC labels showing proof of purchase, and are given a designated credit toward the purchase of stock in the manufacturer or supplier for each label redeemed. When a participating consumer has accumulated enough credits for a particular manufacturer or supplier to purchase one or more shares of its stock, a buy order is issued for the appropriate number of shares, and the consumer's credits are reduced accordingly.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method of determining entitlement to ownership of stocks in a company, comprising the steps of: (a) maintaining in an on-line storage facility of a digital computer (i) a manufacturer/product file for predetermined manufacturers or suppliers of selected goods or services, said manufacturer/product file including an identifying code for each of said predetermined manufacturers or suppliers, and product information on those of said selected goods or services provided by each of said predetermined manufacturers or suppliers, said product information including an identifying code for each of said selected goods or services and a credit amount to be awarded upon redemption of a UPC label showing purchase of a unit of said selected goods or services;   (ii) a participant file for participating consumers of said selected goods or services of said predetermined manufacturers or suppliers, said participant file including an identifying code for each of said participating consumers, and a manufacturer or supplier sub-file for each of said participating consumers, said manufacturer or supplier sub-file including the identifying code for each manufacturer or supplier for whom the respective participating consumers have redeemed UPC labels showing purchase of a unit of said selected goods or services and the accumulated credit balance of the respective participating consumers for each such manufacturer or supplier;   (iii) a UPC redemption file for processing UPC labels of said selected goods or services redeemed by said participating consumers, said UPC redemption file including repositories for the identifying codes of the participating consumers who redeem UPC labels, the manufacturer or supplier and the chosen ones of said selected products for which UPC labels are redeemed, and the number of UPC labels redeemed;   (iv) a stock price file for keeping current prices for stock of the predetermined manufacturers or suppliers;     (b) scanning UPC labels redeemed by participating consumers for content;   (c) verifying the scanned content through comparison with the contents of the manufacturer/product file that the redeemed UPC labels are for said selected goods or services of said predetermined manufacturers or suppliers and if so, entering the number of such UPC labels redeemed;   (d) storing the results of step (c) in the UPC redemption file under the appropriate participating consumer;   (e) posting UPC redemption transactions stored in the UPC redemption file pursuant to step (d) from the UPC redemption file to the appropriate participating consumer in the participant file and zeroing out the posted transactions from the UPC redemption file to avoid double posting, said posting including updating the manufacturer or supplier credit balances for said participating consumers in an amount commensurate with the verified UPC labels redeemed by the respective participating consumers;   (f) comparing the manufacturer or supplier credit balances of participating consumers with the current stock prices for the respective ones of said manufacturers or suppliers;   (g) issuing buy orders for an appropriate number of shares of stock in a particular manufacturer or supplier for each participating consumer whose accumulated credit balance for that particular manufacturer or supplier equals or exceeds the manufacturer's or supplier's current stock price; and   (h) reducing the manufacturer or supplier credit balances for each participating consumer for whom a buy order is issued in an amount reflective of the amount of credit required to cover the buy order.   
     
     
       2. The method of claim 1, wherein step (b) includes scanning the UPC labels with a light pen. 
     
     
       3. The method of claim 1, wherein step (b) includes scanning the UPC labels with a laser scanner. 
     
     
       4. The method of claim 1, and further including between step (a) and step (b) the additional step of: (a1) authenticating the UPC labels redeemed by participating consumers.   
     
     
       5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step (g) includes the further step of transmitting the buy orders electronically, via modem, to the recipients upon issuance. 
     
     
       6. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifying code for said predetermined manufacturers or suppliers comprises the first five digits of the standard 10-digit UPC code. 
     
     
       7. The method of claim 6, wherein the identifying code for said selected goods or services comprises the last five digits of the standard 10-digit UPC code.